Peter King tells Anderson Cooper: ‘It was madness to follow Ted Cruz’

A somewhat flustered-looking Rep. Peter King (R-NY) decried his party’s decision to trust Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in an interview with CNN host Anderson Cooper on Tuesday, reiterating his belief that backing Cruz’s play to attempt to defund the Affordable Care Act was a mistake that the Senate will apparently have to repair.

“The game is over,” King told Cooper. “We have to get this done. [House Speaker] John Boehner’s (R-OH) tried everything he can, but there’s some people in our party, no matter what he tries to do, they won’t go along.”

After Boehner’s failed attempt on Tuesday to put a bill forward ending both the government shutdown and avoiding the imminent deadline on raising the U.S. debt ceiling, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are reportedly ready to bring their own agreement, a development King said he would support.

“I’ve said all along, this is madness — it was madness to follow Ted Cruz,” King said to Cooper. “It was absolute madness to say we want to shut down the government, to defund Obamacare. It never made sense and now all we’re down to, apparently, is trying to pass a [continued resolution] to take away healthcare from congressional employees. That’s what we shut down the government for. It makes no sense.”

Cooper then pointed out that King has made multiplestatements to that effect, before asking him if he felt that a Senate bill including funding for the new law could pass the House now.

“As certain as I can be of anything, I’m certain of that,” King answered. “If it comes to a vote on the House floor, we’ll probably get all the Democrats and certainly enough Republicans to get it through.”

“And you’re confident Speaker Boehner would allow it to come to the House,” Cooper pressed.

“I don’t know what John would do,” King conceded. “But I would think, though, if he’s gonna be involved in expediting the process at all, he probably then would allow it to come to a vote in the House floor. It’s getting too close to the wire.

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Arturo R. García is the managing editor at Racialicious.com. He is based in San Diego, California and has written for both print and broadcast media, including contributions to GlobalComment.com, The Root and Comment Is Free. Follow him on Twitter at @ABoyNamedArt